The new, 49-state investigation into foreclosure frauds comes as no surprise to people who follow the mortgage service business. Shoddy, deceptive paperwork has plagued homeowners for years. In the industry’s slimy underside, firms push borrowers into default and foreclosure, even when they’ve been making payments on time.
Their business model makes defaults profitable, [...]
What Jane Says: Real Estate
- Who pays for a foreclosure freeze? We the taxpayers do
- POSTED 10.9.10
Who do you think picks up the losses on the $500 billion worth of mortgages now in foreclosure or in serious default? The wicked lenders? Sorry, wrong. In more than half the cases, we the taxpayers pay.
Freezes on foreclosures, such as those in effect in at least a quarter of the states, [...]
- Mortgage tip: Sometimes it’s smarter not to pay
- POSTED 10.8.10
Pssst – here’s a quick personal finance tip for financially troubled people who have a first mortgage plus a home equity loan. If you can’t make the payments on the first debt, don’t pay the second one, either — even if you can afford to. Payments on the second lien are money down the drain.
That [...]
- The Foreclosure Mills: What They Do to the Housing Market
- POSTED 10.5.10
The law finally caught up with the home foreclosure mills. Some of the leading lenders and mortgage servicers – including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and GMAC Home Mortgage, a unit of Ally Financial — have conceded that they’ve mistakenly filed for foreclosure based on faulty or even forged affidavits. At some mortgage service firms, [...]
- Thinking about a mortgage default? Beware the taxes due
- POSTED 07.30.10
If you walk away from a mortgage you don’t want any more, what are the consequences? I wrote about the moral and credit implications in a previous post. A reader emailed to ask about the federal tax implications. “In my state, the banks send a notice saying that you owe taxes on the unpaid debt,” [...]
